IX 



LEGUMINOUS FORAGE CROPS 



I. ALSIKE CLOVER 



176. Relationships. Alsike clover (Trifolium hybridum L.), 

 also known as Swedish or hybrid clover, is a distinct species, 

 although thought by Linnaeus to be a hybrid between white 

 clover and red clover. Alsike clover is closely related to 

 Carolina clover (T. carolinianum Michx.) : the latter is much 

 smaller. A smaller type of alsike clover (T. elegans L.) with 

 solid stems downy near the apex and with doubly toothed leaf- 

 lets is grown in Europe for ornamental purposes and to some 

 extent for forage. In Europe, this type, when grown along 

 with alsike, is said frequently to be the cause of disease among 

 animals. 



177. Description. In appearance, especially of flowers and 

 leaves, and in the smoothness and fresh green color of its 

 vegetative parts alsike clover closely resembles white clover, 

 while in habit of growth it resembles red clover. Alsike clover 

 is rather more shallow and perhaps less abundantly rooted than 

 red clover, although tap roots have been reported four feet 

 deep. For this reason it has been held not to be as valuable 

 a renovating crop. The roots, however, bear an abundance of 

 tubercles of rather larger size than those of red clover. The 

 plant branches less freely than red clover and is more likely 

 to be decumbent when the lower two or three nodes root freely, 

 thus giving it a creeping habit. 



The flower heads are slightly larger than those of white 

 clover and the flowers usually rather more pink. The corolla 



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